Two Day Introduction to the PODD Language System

Join us for a informative and fun two-day course on PODD, where you'll get a hands-on introduction to this awesome communication system! This two-day course will be presented by Dr. Kathy Look Howery, a certified Canadian PODD trainer. The course will demonstrate the use of a Pragmatic Organization Dynamic Display (PODD) approach developed by Gayle Porter (Melbourne, Australia). Generic templates for multi-page “light tech” communication books have been carefully designed to support genuine communication for a variety of functions throughout the day. These templates may be customized for a range of access methods and other individual needs. This course focuses only on students for whom direct access to the PODD system is appropriate although there will some mention of alternative access and alternative presentation to PODD. There will be a follow-up course in Edmonton in February for those interested. This training is the prerquiste for that training. At this two-day training you will learn strategies for creating multi-modal language learning environments that provide receptive models and expressive opportunities for language development and strategies for teaching and using PODD with children and their communication partners. Participants will have an opportunity to explore the direct access books with some demonstration of the alternative access and alternate presentation versions as mentioned above. Participants will have guided hands-on practice with PODD Communication books and will be provided with many ideas of how to interact with students including hints on starting as a communication partner. All participants will leave with their own Introduction to PODD manual to refer to after the training and to support their implementation of the learning offered at this two-day training. This training is the prequesite for the Alternative Access Alternative Presentation PODD training as well as the 5 Day Advance PODD training. Sessions will run: Monday Dec 7, 2026 from 8:00 to 4:30 with registration starting at 7:30 AND Tuesday Dec 8, 2026 - 8:00 to 4:30.